Process of distilling water



(No Model.)

' A. GERDES 8: B. THOENS. PROCESS OF DISTILLING WATER;

No. 425,316. Patented Apr. 8. 1890.

I jarazaz'elflomw MWZW UNITE STATES ATENT AUGUST GERDES AND BURCHARDTHOENS, OF NEXV ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

PROCESS OF DISTILLING WATER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 425,316, dated April 8,1890.

Application filed April '7, 1887- Serial No. 233,988. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, AUGUST GERDES and EURGHARD THOENs, subjects of theEmperor of Germany, residing at New Orleans, in the parish of Orleansand State of Louisiana, have invented new and usefullmprovements in theProcess of Distilling Water, of which the following is a specification.

In absorption ice-machines it is customary to free the water from airprior to exposing the water to the refrigerating process in the usualfreezingcans for the purpose of producing clear and transparentice-blocks.

In apparatus for depriving the distilled water of air serious objectionsexist, in that as the coils through which the steam to be condensedpasses are immersed in boiling water the temperature of which is toohigh to condense any amount of steam a large part escapes uncondensed,and hence imperfect condensation is the result; further, a largequantity of water is always kept boiling, and consequent-1y much of itevaporates, and, finally, it is inconvenient to accumulate largequantities of distilled water, which if left standing in tanks willreabsorb air and become unfit for making transparent ice free from amilky appearance.

The object our invention is to avoid the above-mentioned objections andprovide a convenient method of depriving distilled water of air for themanufacture of clear and transparent ice.

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a convenient apparatus for carryingour invention into effect, and Fig. 2 a detail plan view of the finalcondensing tank and coil.

In order to enable those skilled in the art to make and use ourinvention,we will now describe the same in detail, referring to thedrawings, where- The letter a indicates the boiler or retort of anordinary absorption ice-machine, and b is the steam-coil therein, havingits inlet at c. The pipe (I, forming the coil in the boiler, rises andenters a heating-tank f, in which it is formed into a coil e, and thenrises and is extended into another heating-tank hnvhere said pipe isformed into a coil g. The steanrcoil e g, it will be seen, is continuousthrough the two co nmu nicaiin g tanks f and 72 whereby we utilize thesensible heat of the steam to boil the water in the first open tank f,and the latent heat to heat the water in the second water-tan k h belowthe boiling-point, whereby 5 5 the coils a, c, and g, is also providedvwith a cock Zdirectly outside the second tank h. The valved pipe 7' isdesigned to connect with a steam-boiler should it be desirable tocondense steam direct from such boiler without passing it through thecoil 1) in the retort a.

The tanks f and h are arranged side by side on a suitable support orflooring and are connected by a tube m, while the tank f is connectcd bya tube n with a cooler 0, comprising, as here shown, a shell andvertical tubes. The cooling-fluid enters by the pipe 12, while thedistilled water from the tank f enters the cooler by the pipe or andescapes at q in its cooled condition to be delivered to thefreezing-cans of the ice-machine. The steam entering the coil b at c ispartly condensed, and a mixture of steam and hot distilled water passesthrough the pipe (1 to the coil 0, thence to the coil 9 and to pipe 1,which delivers the same into the tank h,tr0n1 which it passes throughtube or into the tank f. The steam which comes with water from thecoil 1) boils the condensed water in the tankf, and by this boiling theair is expelled; but as the coil 6 is submerged in hot water in theheating-tankf all of this steam is not condensed and some passes in coilg, submerged in the heatingtank h, where it is finally all condensed andflows as distilled water through the branch pipe 1 into the tank h. Thepassage of some 5 steam and hot water through the coil g maintains thewater in the tank h near its boilingpoint. By this arrangement a smallamount of water only is kept boiling in the tank f, all the steam iscondensed, andalarge amount of water is kept hot. If the water in thetank h is so hot as not to condense all of the steam,

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tilled water from the coils into such tank or tanks h all steam will becondensed and a larger amount of water will be kept hot.

Should the operation of the ice-machine stop for any length of time anda large amount 1 of distilled water accumulate, which in becoming coolreabsorbs air, this water still can be used, because all water which isdrawn oif at the discharge-pipe q is compelled to flow through the tankf, where it is boiled and the air expelled as soon as the machine is setin operation again. The cost of the apparatus 1 is thereby greatlyreduced, as the accumulated distilled water can be kept in open tanksinstead of in expensive air-tight vessel's.

WVe are aware that in ammonia-gas nia-, chines the condensed water hasbeen boiled 1 by steam in an open tank and cooled before 5 using, sothat the steam parts only with its sensible heat, as in LettersPatentNo. 230,025. 1 We are also aware that in ammonia-gas machines thesteam has been condensed by cold water flowing over the steam-coil, sothat the cold water carries away and .wastes the sensible heat of thesteam, as in Letters PatentNo. 214,161. Such, therefore, we disclaim asnot of our invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is The method hereindescribed of depriving condensed Water of air for the manufacture oftransparent ice, which consists in carrying a mixture of steam and hotcondensed Water through connected hot-water tanks, boiling the water inthe first tank by the passage therethrough of the said steam and water,heating the Water in the second tank in a similar Way, discharging intothe latter the condensed Water from-the steam-pipes, returningthe saidwater to the first tank, and finally carrying the boiled water to thecooler and thence to the ice-cans, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

' AUGUST GERDES.

iUROHARD TFIOENS. Witnesses:

FREDERIO COOK, GEO. MONTGOMERY.

